Thor

Superheroes, a movie premier, science, and Natalie Portman – four things that make our teenage hearts swoon! And that’s exactly the reaction we were looking for when we teamed up with the brilliant minds at Marvel, UL (Underwriters Laboratories), Dolby Laboratories, and Girl Scouts USA, to roll out Marvel’s THOR: The Dark World Ultimate Mentor Adventure!

Marvel’s THOR: The Dark World Ultimate Mentor Adventure aims to empower high school aged girls to discover their vast potential in the world of STEM. Throughout the adventure we hope to excite, inspire and reveal the exciting possibilities that a career in a STEM field holds. Girls will have a chance to ask successful women in STEM fields about what they do, how they got where they are…and how others can follow in their footsteps.

At the 2012 San Diego Comic Con we’re putting the Sci in SciFi with the return of the popular panel:

The Science of Science Fiction: Canon Fodder

Packed with the names behind some of the biggest science fiction hits in Hollywood and TV, the panel will explore the science behind movies and series including Thor, Eureka, Prometheus, and SyFy’s upcoming blockbuster series Defiance. Keeping the science straight in an ongoing series can be a nightmare for writers, so we’ve tapped some of the best to talk about how it’s done, and how to remain faithful to both reality and story mythology. We’ll be talking prequels, sequels, and creating good stories with good science from the ground up.

Recently, we stumbled on a clip from the 1966 film Batman known mostly for its use of shark repellant. Yes, shark repellant, as well as barracuda repellant, whale repellant, and manta ray repellant – all part of Batman’s Oceanic Repellant Bat Sprays, conveniently located in his helicopter. Did we mention during this clip that Batman is hanging off a rope ladder from said helicopter as a shark chews on his leg? Yes, that’s happening, too. With Robin’s help, he manages to get the shark to drop off his leg (with the use of the shark repellant, of course) and somehow escapes without even a rip in his costume. It is silly and unbelievable – a startling contrast to realism and plausibility in a growing number of recent superhero films.